The Wonderful 3’s

So, I’m the proud parent of a 3 year old, a funny, demanding, and opinionated 3 year old. I think each stage BJ goes through I say “this is my favorite stage” I believe it every time I say it but … really, for real this time, this is my favorite stage. BJ tells me about school, he sings songs that he hears on the radio (much to my surprise) he dances, tells me what he wants for dinner and he loves loves loves his mommy. Don’t get me wrong the Hubster is still ranked super high (like #2) in his book of favorite people. But right now in this stage of his life mommy is #1. When he sees me at the end of the day his face lights up, when I sit down he wants to sit in my lap and the random hugs and kisses the melt my heart.

Can you tell how much I’m enjoying this? The Hubster has always told BJ that we don’t wrestle with mommy and we don’t hit mommy (they play so rough it’s insane sometimes but BJ is that kind of kid)… so since I wasn’t a part of their boxing/football tackling/WWE world I was kinda sidelined before now. Of course I was still mommy but nowhere near as fun as daddy.

But something shifted a little while ago. He still loves the occasional body slam but he also loves to draw with me and read me books (read: Look at pictures and pretend he’s reading). He’s okay with lying on my chest while I watch TV and snuggling. He wants to be near me as much as he possibly can. Where I go he goes and if he can’t go he wants an explanation. How is the Hubster handling this change? He’s REVELING in IT! The loss of his constant shadow means he can actually watch what he wants to watch on TV and it doesn’t have to be rated-G. He can leave the house to run an errand without bringing BJ and he can come home from work and put his feet up if he wants to because there’s no little person asking him to play. He’s not super sad about losing his shadow and I’m super happy to have one for a little while…

The fun thing about kids is that they evolve. They don’t stay the same for too long so I’ll enjoy this while it lasts until our household dynamic shifts again. Are there terrible 3 tantrums and do we still occasionally battle with him refusing to go potty even though he’s practically doing the running man in place to keep himself from having an accident? Sure. Has BJ learned that Rocky is a dog and not a horse? Not yet. Have I gotten him to do what I ask him to do without having to repeat myself 20 times first? Not in the least. But, I’ll focus on the positive today.

My son offers to give me kisses without me asking and tells me he loves me without prompting and that makes life pretty freaking fantastic.

Lol!!! Oh don’t get me wrong we definitely have our days where I’m trying to figure out if I can exchange BJ for a hampster or another dog…. lol. But usually by night time when things calm down and he’s sleepy and snuggly I decide to keep him!